Aces and Eights page 12
Harvey Smith
At the next landing, I felt a prickling sensation. Some sort of enchantment lay beyond, I could tell. I was about to repeat my lock-breaking performance when I found that the knob turned freely. I entered.
Beyond the door was a hallway, stretching on a good distance before turning left. As quietly as possible, I proceeded. The hallway twisted several times, finally terminating at an archway that led into a wide room. From what I could see, the room was empty. The floor was made of smooth stones, quite a bit smaller than those making up the bulk of the tower. I took a step forward, but did not pass into the room. From my position in the archway, I could see a similar opening on the opposite side. Leaning forward some, I saw two more of the archways on the far left and right walls. At the room's center was what appeared to be a shallow fire pit. The dimensions of the room, I was sure, exceeded the natural space limitations of the tower itself. Some Shadow-bending magic had to be involved, giving the tower's master additional square footage. I knew an Earth architectural major who would have paid a pretty penny for that trick.
Still holding my weapon ready, I stepped into the room, thinking to move along the right wall and check out the hallway beyond the archway on my right. However, as soon as my foot touched the smooth, shiny floor, I felt a power fall upon me.
I was drawn forward, pulled by some invisible force toward the room's center. I resisted, of course, trying to step backward into the archway. The pull was too strong though and I found myself turning, against my will, to face the middle of the room. Simultaneously, a massive design�an intricately detailed wheel of some kind�flared to fiery life across the floor. Various symbols glowed within the limits of its outer perimeter, each connected to a spoke that lead to the fire pit at the wheel's center.
The flames tracing the borders of the design stood only half a foot in height. They were an inky blue and flickered slowly as if made of animated syrup. A dull droning sound rose in volume until it caught my notice. A column of the same ink-colored fire rose up from the fire pit, swaying like an eight foot serpent.
My left foot slid forward until it touched the nearest edge of the wheel-design. The flame did not burn, but the tugging increased and the pitch of the humming sound rose by half an octave. My right foot followed the example set by my left and soon I was within the perimeter of the wheel, having passed over what appeared to be a spidery flower, rendered in dark shades of purple and violet. I moved involuntarily along the spoke connected to the flower.
Though I poured the sum of my efforts into resisting the thing, it was just too strong. After a short time, I unwillingly came to another symbol along the flower-spoke. This one, a vine-wrapped skull, had been rendered in the same purplish shades. Even as I was pulled forward, I studied the wheel.
The symbols along each spoke seemed to be related in theme. I had crossed over a flower entering the circle, was nearing a skull crisscrossed by thorny vines and farther ahead I could see a pair of saplings, their branches intertwined. Those portions of the spoke to my left bore yellow, insect-related symbols. Those to my right were elemental images in red. I was at a total loss to understand the significance of the pretty pictures, but I knew for certain that they meant nothing good for me.
As I reached the vine-and-skull-design a numbness spread over me. The feeling grew more complete, until I was utterly paralyzed. I was unsure as to why my progress had been halted on that image, as opposed to any of the others glowing on the floor.
The flames fell away then along with the drone and the central column of fire. Shortly afterward, the symbols on the floor vanished as well. I was left standing, unable to move, in the empty room.
* * * * *
After a time, I heard the quiet tread of footsteps entering the room and I began to regret ever having met the man who had given me the mystery Trump. It seemed that in accepting the card I had been dealt a dead man's hand in more ways than one.
In the time I spent immobile, I had been unable to effect any means of escape. The field holding me seemed to attenuate the energies of my ring, so that my awareness through it extended no further than my hand. Had I been able to use that device, I might have been able to extricate myself from the spell. As it was, however, I was stuck.
As the footsteps drew nearer, I could do nothing but wait. I wondered if whoever was approaching would decide to get it over quickly and simply slip a silver dagger through my ribs and into my heart. If so, there was little or nothing I could do about it.